Kimma. Oh well. Kimma was picked out at 4 weeks. I just had a feeling. Luckily, the breeder agreed she would be a good fit. The car ride home at 8 weeks was awesome - she slept on my lap the whole time. Had a nice first night of sleeping on the couch next to me, and even settled in her crate well. Then everything changed. She was crazy (of course looking back, a good amount of that was normal puppy stuff LOL). I hated her. Called my Mom crying daily for like 2 weeks. But I didn't want to give up - sometimes she would just give me this look that was part "I think I like you" and part "I'm going to make your life VERY interesting - WATCH ME DO THIS!" Once we started doing training and I realized that alpha rolling and dominating my dog wasn't the way to go (which is what the first trainer we went to believed), things got sort of fun. She was playful with other dogs, and had a blast at the dog park. She learned things VERY fast and loved training. That, of course, made things better. By the time she was about 6 months old, I was starting to like her. I then had her spayed, and after crying when I went to pick her up, I knew that she was mine and that I loved her, but we weren't like solidly bonded. It wasn't until after she got loose from her collar at about 9 months old and I sort of chased her/walked close to her alongside a road until she came to me for hotdogs that I really felt like she was MINE. The bonding was cemented when she escaped my breeder's property while we were visiting one day (which no dog of theirs had ever done before - thanks, Kimma). I thought she was gone. No sign of her. I stood on their deck and called her name and she came RUNNING to the front gate. I was so happy I can't even explain it. And that was it. We were officially bonded.

Pen took a bit longer. I don't think I really bonded with him until we took training classes last summer. He just had so much fun working with me, and I him. He's an easy dog to love, and I definitely loved him from day one, but now I feel much closer to him.

With Bubbles, I saw her picture when she was 10 months old, and I sort of coveted her LOL. I was so glad when the breeder let me have her at 1.5 years old. Then we moved, and things got busy. Again, like Pen, she's VERY easy to love. But I think that as horrible as her whelping was and the weeks that followed were, that was really what bonded the two of us. Though in reality, he is my DH's dog. They are definitely bonded and have been basically since the beginning.

I think I will be quicker to bond with Jari for the simple fact that he's another puppy to raise. It will be interesting to see how things go once Whitey is gone and it's just him.

With Maddie it was instant... I had done all the research, had been in contact with the breeder, and set a date to go meet the puppies. That evening came up, and my parents didn't want to take me. They got cold feet. And I cried my eyes out for hours because she had two puppies left, one male and one female, and I desperately wanted a female. And she had a woman coming to meet them that night, and another the next night. And I had a school field trip the next day that I wouldn't even being returned from home until 9pm I cried myself to sleep that night

The next day when my parents picked me up from school at night, I had fun, but I was holding a grudge... I jumped in the van, and much to my surprise, was my female puppy. Sleeping. It was love at first sight, and she woke up and was all like wigglebutt.ll YOU. ARE. THE BEST THING EVERRRR instant bond, love at first sight.

Bailey took a while. The stars seemed to align right, but I wasn't sure. She was an owner re-home, contacted a rescue for help rehoming her, a friend gave me all of her info to contact her before she got into the rescue officially (I previously was turned down by rescue for not having a fenced in yard ) she was also posted on Craigslist, which I didn't know until after i talked to the owner. I saw it, and she took that ad down straight away, like she knew I was taking her before I did when I met her, I was even less sure. She was beautiful, surprisingly so, but skittish. She didn't know how to act, she wanted to jump up one me, but they admitted they swatted at her when she did. So she half jumped then pinned her ears and hid. My heart went out to her, I felt bad for her. I decided to at the very least foster her.
Maddie took to her right away, which was a surprise to me. She was never the type of dog to sleep with another dog or cuddle lol... It took me a good frustrating couple of months to come around, though. Just ask Jess lol
Frustrating WTF did I do? Months.
But then at a dog expo (Bailey came around amazingly and could attend as long as I veered off strangers just "grabbing" her) I ran into my controlling abusive handsy jerk of a ex, and I stopped because I was afraid. I sat down, and tried to think of anything to avoid a full on panic attack, my heart was racing. Bailey, the dog who wouldn't jump and hid behind me often, pressed all her weight into me and slithered up into my lap. The relief I felt was instant. He approached us, and she postured.
From that moment on I appreciate our bond SO much more <3

With Henry it was pretty instant, even if he wasn't the dog I was originally looking for.

When I went to the shelter, I had a short list of two dogs off of their website that I wanted to meet. One was really skittish, and the other was extremely hyper. I greeted both through the kennels but hesitated to take either out. My mom encouraged me to walk around and look at all the dogs, rather than just the two I had short-listed. There weren't many choices because I was purposely avoiding the puppy room, and the shelter had maybe 15 adult dogs available. Henry was in the second to last kennel. A casual look at all the dogs drew me right to him.

I'll never forget the moment I saw him. He was sitting next to his kennel gate, pressed up against it, his whole body vibrating with happiness. He was scrawny and a little homely, with patches of fur missing and overgrown nails. But heavens he was sweet! He scrambled along at my heels, anxious to get away from the kennel. Once we were in a private room, he put his head in my lap and sighed. I started petting him and tearing up. He was so sweet, so gentle, so unassuming. His little sigh put me over the edge. I looked at my mom and said, "He's the one." No argument from her; she was just as smitten with him.

Five and half years have passed and our bond still seems to grow deeper. I love him more than I would have ever thought possible. Watching him grow and learn and overcome obstacles has brought me so much joy. He is so sweet and loving and just plain wonderful.

Journey: I never bond with a dog instantly, but I really liked her from the moment I met her. I actually thought her sister, upon first meeting them and hanging out with the three puppies left, might be a better fit for me though. She was just so observant and happy and polite for a puppy, while Journey was bouncing around like a little shark and kind of all over the place haha. Plus, the whole experience of staying at her breeder's house was new and stressful for me anyway, so I wasn't my normal self completely. And I'd still kind of had it in my head that I liked reds better, and being that her sister left was a red tri (and gorgeous at that), I was just really attracted to her. But yes, I did like Journey from the get go. And it didn't take me long, once is was just her and I, to fall in love with her. It feels cheesy to say it, but there's been something really special about her for me since the day I brought her home and realized she was mine. Pretty sure I fell in love with her at the airport, and by the time I got her home, I was so overprotective of her. I still am. I feel that in some ways I'm still getting to know her because she is still just a puppy, but I feel like I've had a strong bond with her since like day 2 of bringing her home. She and I just click. We seem to get eachother. She's my dream dog and everything I could have asked for and more. I had a couple of worried moments when I first got her (she acted like she was terrified of people and all I could think was "omg, not another Dance"), but I think she was just a little stressed from all the change. But despite that, I still adored her and couldn't imagine life without her after just having her a couple of days. I've only ever felt so close to a dog so quickly before just once prior to Journey. I love this dog like no other.

Dance: I liked her immediately and felt bad for her in some ways. I loved her after having her just a few days, but I wasn't in love with her. It took me a little while to feel like we really had a bond of any kind. She's always been a bit aloof/not very cuddly, and sometimes acted like maybe she didn't even like me haha. So I wasn't sure what to do with that. Plus, I still had Tango at the time who was my world. And sometimes Dance got in the way of my relationship with Tango a bit. I remember wondering why I wanted a puppy so badly and there was a moment where I felt a bit of regret, because she wasn't exactly the puppy I'd dreamed of and I knew I could have researched breeders better and didn't notice any red flags until after she was home because I was so enamored with finally getting my Toller puppy. She messed in her crate all the time, she ate poop, she was afraid of people that weren't family, she wasn't as quick to learn as Tango was (learned very quickly to not compare), and like I said, I kind of felt like she didn't like me. But I did love her a lot and would never have dreamed of giving her back, even in that one very short moment of regret. Then I took her on a holiday to visit my grandparents and that one on one time helped a lot, but what really made me bond with and connect with her on a different level was losing Tango suddenly. Dance was 5 months old at the time, and dog-wise, suddenly all I had. After losing Tango, I realized how much I really did love this puppy and needed her, and since then, have been really close to Dance. I can't imagine life without her.

Ripley: There was something I liked about him from the beginning, but I helped care for his litter and he always just followed me around and hung out with me, so I grew attached. I don't think I actually felt a real bond with him until he was about 3 months old and already living with me, but I loved him from a young age. He's gone through phases in life where I've loved him, but didn't actually like him though, as awful as that sounds. He was awful from about 10mths until 18mths old and I'm pretty sure he thought his name was "jerk" or another really awful word. But I've loved him since he was like 6 weeks old, bonded with him around 3 months, and really felt grateful to have him at about 5 months. It's never been the same as my relationship with Dance or Journey, because in many ways he's not what I would look for in a dog, but I adore my sweet, sucky boy nonetheless. It's just different.

Keira: It sounds absolutely awful for me to say this, but I'm pretty sure not only did I not love her very much, but I barely even liked her for her first year of life. She was dreadful. The worst puppy ever, and a terrible fit for my mom, and I resented her a bit. She was so aloof and indifferent. She's the only puppy I've ever been around who wouldn't come running to kissy noises or other ways that people normally get a puppy's attention. She just looked at us with disdain, ran around the house like it was her own personal racetrack, had explosive diarrhea in every dog class ever taken because she'd get herself so worked up with excitement and screaming, wasn't housebroken reliably until she was 10mths old (god forbid she go out in the rain), had zero handler focus despite trying hard, didn't have much toy drive, submissively urinated for me whenever other family members were home (but was fine just her and I), ugh... just a nightmare of a puppy for us. We are not novice dog owners, but she made us feel like failures and complete idiots. Then suddenly around 15mths old or so, she became the dog I'd been trying hard to create, and that's when I started bonding with her more and I realized how much I really did love her when she had to go in for exploratory surgery and I got myself worked up worrying about what if she died on the table or something. She's still not a very good match for my family in a lot of ways, but we've made it work, and we all love her very much and she now equally adores my mom and I. But it's crazy that it took over a year for me to feel much of anything toward her... that's not normal for me at all. I love puppies. But I hope I never have a puppy like Keira again. Thank goodness she grew into the adult that she did. She still has moments that make us not like her/what she does, but I love her and am glad she's ours.

Talon took a little while. He was a great puppy, and I knew he was the one out of the litter that would work best, but it wasn't a truly instant bond. It took a little while before he truly felt like family that we couldn't do without. I think when I started truly bonding with him was when I moved in January. I think the alone time with me and just the dogs really got our bond stronger. David didn't bond with Talon until this last month lol

Art bonded to use almost immediately. As soon as David brought him home that was that. He was mine, he chose me. He loves his family like no other. ^_^

Pongo pretty much instantly. He was 5 weeks old, fit in the palm of my hand and it was love at first sight.

Casper was instant too. He was 6 months old and I had lost my previous Dogo a few months prior and then I found him.

Ronon took a good 6 months b/c he is very reserved and not friendly with strange people. We are very close now, but he still doesn't like other people!

Jack was pretty instant. I liked him when I picked him up for a friend and then she didn't take him I was going to find him a home but a few weeks later when we found a home for him, I couldn't let him go.

Joey- 3-4 months to start liking him and still working on a bond. I fell in love with his picture, but it was really too soon after losing Riddick and all I did was compare him to Riddick and he fell very short. While he is still no Riddick, I have learned to appreciate him for him and we are getting closer.

Rocky- took about a year and we still aren't very close. He prefers other people to me and would leave easily with someone else.

I have never had love at first sight. I need to work for a bond. I also can be slightly sociopathic and overtly rational in my considerations. It takes a fair amount for me to truly love something. I love my dogs, each of them, even when they drive me insane but it was not immediate.

Generally, I am pretty smitten with my dogs when I first get them, but I'm not the biggest fan of puppyhood. By 18 months - 2 years, they are firmly cemented in my heart. That's not to say that they are not loved before then of course - there is definitely a bond. But it's complete at around 2 years.

Grace still hasn't completely grown up and she's 12 lol. She is such a happy, confident, sweet girl. Very, very easy to love. Very dependable. My rock really.

Abby is cute, serious, a little bit sharp, her reactivity can be challenging and it can be hard to make her happy. Her puppyhood and adolescence were hard for me. Most of that was feelings of guilt, inadequacy, sadness etc, so just typical emotional human baggage. It was hard, but at no point did I question whether we would ever bond. I knew it would be different from the bond me and Grace have. But that's ok. It's one thing I don't tend to struggle with - I really don't compare my dogs. Well, I do obviously as in Grace is x, y, z and Abby is a, b, c. But it's like comparing apples and oranges and I was never looking for another Grace when I got Abby and I won't be looking for another Grace or Abby with my next dog.

My first Stafford, Elmo, it was instant. He was an adult rescue dog (just under 4 years old when I adopted him), and was in Michigan. I was smitten with his adorable photos, but the first time I actually saw him was at the airport where I picked him up after he was shipped to me. My first actual contact with him was me putting my hand on the door of the crate, talking to the airline guys, and Elmo licked my fingers. I let him out of the crate, and that was it, he was my dog.

When I got Tully, my first thought was that it was a ghastly mistake. I mostly wanted a 2nd dog because I was so attached to Elmo, I figured I'd die if anything happened to him. So I got puppy Tully, who was 13 weeks, and rather hideous. I drove 5 hours south to pick her up, the breeder drove 5 hours north. So after all that driving, when she handed me this ugly puppy, I thought I had to take her. I brought her home, and spent about a week wondering if I'd made a horrible mistake. Then I came home from work, saw her little puppy face peering at me over the baby gate, and I knew I loved her. (she started knocking over the baby gate after that)

Tess & Pirate were both born here, so I can't really say when the bond happened, it grew naturally as they matured. What's cute and funny, is that I picked Pirate at about 7 weeks, when I started training, but I still had his sister for awhile. When the pups were about 9 weeks, I took them both to meet a friend who had originally wanted a Tess pup, but had wound up getting a border collie puppy instead. I handed her the puppy leashes while I went back to my truck to get something. Apparently, Pirate tried to come after me; his sister sat down and looked at my friend like "oh, I'm yours now!" Later in the visit, she wound up sleeping in my friend's lap.

That bond was instant, and was the reason my friend wound up with 6 dogs. The puppy made that choice. She picked her owner, and never wavered.

I fell in love at first sight with Holly, my first Afghan hound. Her foster, who is a long time breeder and judge even commented on it. "Yup, that's the look right there. You're one of us now" I had no idea what he meant, I was so focused on the fantastic magical dog sitting on his couch. I was afraid to even approach her, she was so beautiful.

After she died I couldn't bear the thought of another dog. After 4 years the stars aligned and suddenly my mom was getting ready to adopt another. My brother was watching Toy story and decided to check petfinder and see if there were any Daschunds in the area. His search redirected to a pair of Afghan hound puppies up north in a small town our family has visited every year for 20 years. She called it fate and ignored my very angry pleas not to, and contacted the rescue.

I was determined to NOT like Robyn. I agreed to help with training and exercise, since I liked to walk for hours at a time, but I made it clear I wasn't going to go out of my way with this dog. She would be everybody's but mine......worked well huh? We bonded over cookies every morning, before everyone else was awake. I tried very hard to keep my distance. She liked me after about 3 days. It took me weeks, maybe about two months before I admitted defeat and accepted her as my dog. We had so much fun learning about each other as she grew. She's my girl.

Trin was more of a surge of protectiveness at first sight. She was so scared with so many issues. I loved her almost right away, but it took her about two months to even make eye contact. She is my goofy baby girl. I wouldn't change her for the world, even though it's a terrible fit for our current living situation. There were so many tearful phone calls to her foster mom at the rescue, even 6 months after we got her, about wether she would do better somewhere else. I loved her soooo much but things were still so challenging. They still are on some days but there is no way she is going anywhere without me!

Wassim was not the saluki I chose. Things fell through with my first choice and I cried for days. I'd started to love her already. He was my third or fourth choice, after the others were not cat safe. I had to settle on a male because I didn't feel anything for any of the females available. I'd admired him since I saw his first grainy pictures but never imagined I'd end up adopting him.
The wait for a flight buddy took months and I was supplied lots of pictures and videos to tide me over.
When I finally laid eyes in him I started bawling. I was walking through a McDonalds resturant at a truck stop bawling as soon as I saw his transport pull in. He was just so perfect. I was very cautious with him though. I was so worried he would disrupt our perfect balance with both girls getting along perfectly. It was about a month after that I could breathe a sigh of relief and realized everything was going to be fine. He really started to bond with me 3 months after I got him. When he had his surgery and I slept with him in the living room floor every night for almost 2 months. We would cuddle in the middle if the night and get up countless times to stretch and massage his hip. He likes everyone but hadn't formed that deep attachment yet. I'm still not as bonded with him as the girls but I can see that changing every day.